The final deliverable for my graduate-level urban theory course was an assessment of place using a method of my choosing on a place I know well. I chose my home region of Northwest Indiana and analyzed the area using an active transportation framework. More specifically, I was interested in knowing how many more residents the biking and walking trail expansion in the region’s comprehensive plan would serve once developed and if that service was equitable by race and median income. I did a pre-existing conditions analysis using GIS census tracts and geocoding the image of existing trails from the comp plan to understand how many residents are currently served by the bike trail within a quarter mile. I also interviewed some residents to understand the current conditions of the trail and what they would like to see improved upon from accessibility and safety viewpoints. I then georeferenced the expansion map to see how many more residents would be served and found that the expansion, if it comes to fruition, will serve 88 percent of the region’s population and there were no disparities between Black and non-Black residents. Although this was a relatively simple analysis, it was an effective way to understand how a proposed change would actually affect residents, and I was able to provide some recommendations as a result.
